The Special Boss

Varek had never faced a Yellow-Furred Weasel before, but his veteran knowledge made him well aware of its infamous arsenal. Ultimate Body and Rage Mode were standard baseline skills for main-city bosses. Ultimate Body stripped away all incoming crowd control effects, leaving only curses and suppression skills capable of locking down the target. Rage Mode was a brutal trade-off, sacrificing physical and magical resistance to trigger a terrifying damage-boosting aura. Then there was Yellow Mountain Mirage, a hallucination tied directly to mental resilience. The stronger a player's mind, the less the illusion warped reality.

Soul Absorption and Soul Control were the notoriously game-breaking magical skills. Soul Absorption forcibly ripped a portion of the enemy's soul away, inflicting a severe weakened state and continuous, lethal damage-over-time. The relentless health drain lasted for a full twenty-four hours in real time. Unless the Yellow-Furred Weasel was slain, the victim would bleed out over a full day, forcing them to cower inside a revival altar just to survive. Soul Control was worse, granting the beast the power to hijack an enemy's soul and command their actions for twenty-four hours.

Despite the risks, Varek intended to put the beast in the dirt. The creature currently hovered in the air, suspended by Varek's relentless arrow juggle. Without triggering Ultimate Body, the boss couldn't force its way back down. Most bosses waited until their health dropped to a critical low before chaining Ultimate Body and Rage Mode for a desperate counterattack. But this humanoid monster possessed intelligence on par with an adult. In the early days of Dusk of Divine Lords, players paid dearly when they treated NPCs like simple AI.

Just as Varek accurately predicted, the very moment the boss's health dropped to exactly one million, a glowing aura erupted across its fur. Ultimate Body. The physical knockback effect of Varek's heavy arrows was nullified instantly. The massive beast broke free from the airborne stunlock and crashed heavily onto the forest floor. It immediately raised a massive, clawed hand, dark magical energy swirling at its fingertips as it prepared to cast a deadly skill.

But then, the beast lowered its hand. The casting range was too short. Most monsters possessed a magical casting range roughly identical to a standard archer's basic attack range. Varek's attack range was ten percent longer thanks to his Basic Attack Amplification skill. He perfectly manipulated this expanded range, backpedaling with precise footwork to effortlessly keep the creature's magical attacks from reaching him. Experienced players in the PC era used similar tactics to maximize damage, but executing it in virtual reality required flawless spatial awareness.

However, Varek's notoriously slow base movement speed rapidly betrayed him. The hulking Weasel lunged forward, closing the physical distance in mere seconds. Varek's eyes narrowed. The beast raised its clawed hand again, the dark energy stabilizing. With the resilient Ultimate Body active, Varek's arrows simply bounced off the glowing barrier. He couldn't interrupt the incoming casting animation. He braced his stance for the hard lock-on of the dreaded Soul Absorption skill. It was a targeted mechanic. No amount of agility or positioning could dodge it.

Watching intently from the nearby brush, Umbra-Sunder gripped his daggers. He grinned darkly, eagerly anticipating Varek's imminent, humiliating downfall. A fragile archer taking an undodgeable soul drain meant an instant, unavoidable death.

But in a blinding flash of pixels, Varek swiftly swapped his gear. He equipped his full Black Iron Treant Set, raising a heavy shield in his off-hand. Both his resistance and total health pool spiked. The set bonus of the Black Iron Treant Set restored two hundred health per second, reflected twenty percent of incoming damage, and increased overall toughness by ten percent. The heavy gear's immense physical toughness mitigated the skill's harsh statistical weakening effect. A bright red damage number materialized in the air above Varek's head.

-2254

Then, the forced health drain took hold.

-102

Varek unequipped the heavy shield, switching back to his main weapon to resume his assault. Without the shield, his baseline healing dropped from two hundred down to one hundred. But when mathematically combined with his infinitely scaling Revival skill, he gained another one hundred and fifty health per second. The Black Iron Treant Set's innate healing passive pushed his total health regeneration to a staggering one hundred and eighty points per second.

The supposedly terrifying, lethal damage-over-time from the soul drain barely managed to dent his rapidly regenerating health bar. Massive, continuous green healing numbers popped rapidly above Varek's head. +180. +180. The weakening debuff still took its toll, forcing Varek's offensive attack speed to plummet from 3.63 down to 2.41, a massive third of his overall output. But he was alive, and he was stable.

Watching the green numbers flood the air, Umbra-Sunder's dark smile froze in utter stun. More than a hundred health per second? The lethal soul drain couldn't even touch a tenth of the archer's health pool! Realizing Varek's absolute, monstrous resilience made him practically unkillable, the elite assassin abruptly leaped into the chaotic fray.

Umbra-Sunder kicked off the Weasel's broad back, using the momentum to vault into the air. He ruthlessly slashed its throat with his glowing dagger to pull its attention.

-215

A bleeding debuff appeared over the creature's head, ticking for twenty-five damage every second. Varek paused, slightly surprised by the rogue's sudden intervention. The boss still had over nine hundred thousand health remaining. It didn't seem like the rogue was trying to steal the kill.

"Let's talk later," Umbra-Sunder offered loudly over the din of battle, landing gracefully on the dirt. "I'll purposefully back off once it hits 10%, don't worry about me trying to steal the boss."

Varek raised a calm eyebrow, accurately figuring that his earlier, brutal display of overwhelming mechanical power had thoroughly intimidated the elite player into mutual cooperation. He didn't dwell on the rogue's sudden change of heart. As long as the agile assassin successfully drew the beast's deadly aggro, the entire fight remained comfortably under his control. Ultimate Body possessed a strict duration limit, and Varek knew a Novice Settlement boss wouldn't stay immune forever.

The infuriated beast roared, spinning around to unleash a massive, retaliatory swipe at the new threat. Umbra-Sunder nimbly and desperately dodged the sharp claws, leaning back just in time to avoid decapitation. He countered with a swift stab, dragging his blade across the creature's thick wrist.

-121

The damage was lower, but it kept the monster's fury focused squarely on him.

Varek flawlessly seized the tactical opening. He anchored his feet into the soil and unleashed a concentrated barrage. He fired three heavy arrows per second. Each projectile bypassed the thick frontal hide, striking the precise, heavily guarded weak point located at the very back of the creature's thick skull. Massive critical hits shattered the beast's health bar.

"D*mmit!" the rapidly bleeding Yellow-Furred Weasel roared in a remarkably human voice.

In the very next instant, a blinding, ghostly white light erupted from its massive body. The shockwave of magical energy distorted the forest canopy, and the hulking beast vanished from sight. The heavy thud of its footsteps faded into dead silence. The scent of blood and dirt dissipated, replaced by a sweet, intoxicating aroma of wild orchids that clouded the mind.

In the creature's immediate place stood an impossibly stunning woman. She was elegantly draped in a sheer, provocative dress that clung seamlessly to the swell of her breasts and the curve of her hips. The translucent fabric left nothing to the imagination, teasing the flawless, fair skin beneath and exposing the daring lines of her feminine silhouette. Her long, slender legs shifted gracefully as she took a slow, swaying step forward on the forest floor. Every subtle movement she made radiated a hypnotic, magical charm that warped the very air around her, blurring the edges of the battlefield into a soft, dreamlike haze.

She tilted her head, her glossy hair cascading down her bare shoulders, and locked her luminous, enchanting eyes onto a confused Varek. A sultry, knowing smile graced her lips. She slowly, seductively beckoned at him with a single, delicate finger, the motion promising untold pleasures.

"Gentleman, come play with me!" she purred, her voice a velvety whisper dripping with magical compulsion.